Mayor, city leaders announce anti-domestic violence campaign

San Francisco leaders are launching a public awareness campaign aimed at ending domestic violence, citing an uptick in reports of abuse in recent years.

Mayor Ed Lee, District Attorney George Gascon and Board of Supervisors president David Chiu announced the campaign Thursday, saying it will be funded by a $750,000 mid-year appropriation proposed by Chiu last week and will include ads on Muni buses and fliers handed out at schools, libraries and recreation centers. The campaign is being supported by women’s shelters and other community groups that help victims of domestic violence.

“Domestic violence knows no economic boundaries, it knows no social boundaries — it impacts all of us,” Gascon said. “We know that the majority of state prisoners came from homes where domestic violence was present when they were growing up, and we know the majority of abuse victims came from homes where domestic violence was present. It’s a health as well as a crime issue.”

Lee attempted to oust Mirkarimi as sheriff on the basis of official misconduct, following his guilty plea to a misdemeanor charge of false imprisonment in connection with an argument with his wife. But Lee was thwarted by the Board of Supervisors, when four members voted against upholding the misconduct charge in October.

“I think many of you were here when I had to react to the Board’s decision on it, and I said, ‘I am going to have respond to this,’ and the impact of it is that we have to step up on our domestic violence programs,” Lee said. “Now I think this is primarily driven not by the sheriff but by the very statistics we are reacting to, the increased calls for help.”